a solemn calm returned to this milwaukee suburb today -- flags lowered to half staff to honor the five men and one woman killed at the sikh temple of wisconsin. >> squad, i'm taking a report of an altercation, sikh temple. >> reporter: barely 24 hours earlier that place of worship was the setting for chaos and terrible carnage. >> ambulance up! subject down! officer down! bring the ambulance. >> we have one officer shot. >> responding to 911 calls, 21-year police veteran lieutenant brian murphy was shot eight to nine times at close range as he helped a victim. he urged his colleagues to help other victims before helping him. he's listed in critical condition but is expected to survive. >> in my mind they're all heroes. they did exactly what was expected of them. they're senior officers. >> reporter: the gunman is identified as 40-year-old wade michael page. he had been kicked out of the army and reportedly had ties to the white supremacist movement. when he entered the temple women were in the kitchen preparing food.

priests were in the offices preparing for services with the temple president satwant kaleka. his son said his cell phone rang and his father's number popped up but it was a priest. >> he goes your father is here and has been shot. >> i said how badly is he wounded? he said somewhere in the back. >> reporter: officials told him his father died confronting the gunman with a knife. >> the fbi agent told me specifically your father was a hero. had he not slowed him down how many more people would have lost their lives? >> reporter: there are about 300,000 sikhs living and worshiping in the united states. since 9/11 a watch dog group reports 700 sikhs targeted at random by those who mistakenly believe they are muslims. they say their religion teaches equality, harmony, and inclusion. >> sikhs believe in peace and harmony. as a tradition sikhs do not cut their beards and wear turbans. >> reporter: the religious name

comes from sanskrit meaning learning and today the faithful say they are learning the hardest lesson possible. john yang, nbc news, oak creek, wisconsin. this is pete williams in washington. researchers say wade michael page popped up in the white supremacist world 12 years ago playing in two bands associated with racist skinheads. although there is no known record he ever advocated violence, an organization that tracks hate groups says he was deeply involved in a sub culture that did. >> they frequently talk about whites as the most endangered species on the planet and, you know, as they get more and more kind of hepped up about this people go out and start shooting. >> one of his bands was called end apathy and he told a website seven years ago he wanted to, quote, figure out how to end people's apathetic ways. military records show page enlisted in the army in 1992 but was discharged six years later for a drinking problem, ending

his military career in north carolina at fort bragg. federal agents today searched a north carolina house where page lived for half of last year. a neighbor said he made antisemitic comments. he racked up an arrest record mostly for drunk driving. a neighbor who lived nearby in suburban milwaukee said page recently broke up with his girlfriend but never expressed racist views. one tatoo was related to the 9/11 attacks. >> i think it was on the shoulder with the 9/11 tatoo and was circular and said in respect for all the people who lost their lives in 9/11. >> fbi investigators say they believe he was on his own when he opened fire sunday. >> right now we don't have any reason to believe there was anyone else associated with this shooting. >> but it's a reminder the fbi says that violent hate groups remain a threat. investigators say page bought the single hand gun he used in the shooting about a week ago but they say why he attacked that temple remains a mystery.

brian? >> pete williams along with john yang starting us off tonight on this horrible story out of wisconsin. gentlemen, thank you both. now to syria tonight. a new sign that the assad regime may indeed be on its last legs. today we got word of the highest level defection yet. this time truly a member of the assad inner circle. our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell tells us tonight that the state department and the pentagon are now working together on plans for syria after assad, hoping to avoid the chaos they believe broke out because of the lack of planning for a post saddam iraq. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel reports for us again tonight from inside syria. >> reporter: syrian rebels today tried to silence the government's propaganda attacking the state tv station. the bombing caused injury but didn't knock the channel off the air. a short time later it broadcast this announcement. the prime minister the

television said had been fired. but that's not what happened. the prime minister riyadh hijab fled the country, the first syrian cabinet minister to defect. he had been hiding for two days according to his spokesman. >> translator: he was chosen to be part of this criminal regime but decided to join the syrian people and their blessed revolution. >> reporter: the syrian government could be collapsing from within. but it's feared, and the powerful military is still working and is still on the attack, especially in the city of aleppo. some 20,000 syrian troops are massed on aleppo's western edge and are attacking with tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets. a rebel commander with a hundred fighters in aleppo told us today if the rebels don't receive a massive influx of weapons within the next 72 hours, they'll have to give up the fight. do all the rebels agree that if you don't get support you're going to have to surrender the city? >> translator: yes, he said.

there's been an agreement for a tactical retreat to save lives. aleppo has been under attack for two weeks. and the rebels a force of perhaps 3,000 can't hold out much longer. today's defection is another sign of deep cracks in president assad's inner circle. already more than 30 generals have defected, including another one today. brian, the rebels in this country are so poorly armed their best chance of reaching damascus may be for the government to collapse from within. brian? >> richard engel reporting for us from northern syria tonight. back at home tonight there are still about a dozen fires burning across the state of oklahoma after a weekend that saw nearly 60,000 acres and multiple homes destroyed as a result. the remains of one person were found in a burned home in norman, oklahoma. the national guard troops are helping fire crews tamp down the remaining fires and they're looking for some weather help here.

temperatures are expected to drop to the 90s from the 100s tomorrow. tropical storm ernesto picked up steam as it moved across the western caribbean today and it's ontrack to hit the coast of honduras and belize, possibly as a hurricane. tonight ernesto's winds are topping out at about 65 miles an hour. belize has posted hurricane warnings for the entire coast line tonight. the storm is now projected to move across the yucatan peninsula by early wednesday. now to the games here in london. another action packed day here including a come from behind win for the u.s. women's soccer team as the action aired live on the nbc sports network, beating canada, 4-3 in the second overtime. they will now go on to play japan in the gold medal game. and people are still talking about the guy who now gets to go by the title "world's fastest man." nbc's kevin tibbles is with us from the olympic park just

across town. kevin, good evening. >> reporter: brian, it may have been over in just a flash less than ten seconds of must see tv, but the world is still talking tonight about usain bolt. the south london neighborhood of brickston awash in black, green and gold. this is the heart and soul of the jamaican community here today celebrating independence day and the golden streak of lightning named usain bolt. >> yes, jamaica all the way! >> fastest man on earth. >> reporter: the blink of an eye just 9.3 seconds seen by some 2 million viewers worldwide. >> usain bolt trying to come along. it's tyson -- here's bolt! usain bolt explodes! and he's still the king of the hundred. >> there's never been somebody

6'5" tall that can turn his legs over like somebody 5'9". >> otto bolden has won two olympic medals in the 100 meters. for him, bolt's secret is simple. before the race has even started, bolt has less work to do to complete it. >> that stride that you're seeing there covers eight feet with every step. >> reporter: bolt took just 41 steps to win gold. it took the silver medalist 46 to finish. even though his size dictates a slower start, once bolt gets moving, he hits an unbeatable 27 miles per hour. and once the race was won, he struck his signature pose. back in the brickston market today the mini bolts were everywhere and at least one middle aged bolt. >> that good? >> yeah. >> reporter: and a message to boys and girls everywhere who just want to run. >> he's encouraging people to do it, to run like you. >> reporter: and tomorrow the world's fastest human begins his

quest to win gold in the 200 meters. by the way, brian, bolt says the 200 meters is his favorite race. after all, he is the world record holder in that, too. >> kevin, two things for you. number one we're going to work on your stance. number two, it strikes me that the speed limit inside olympic park and believe me they enforce it is 20 miles an hour. he was seven miles an hour over the limit for the 100. >> he didn't get a ticket. >> kevin tibbles with all things olympic, thanks. when our broadcast continues tonight from london the new star on mars. we're getting an amazing look this evening from millions of miles away. later, one of the inspiring stars back here on earth at the games. he is a world class sprinter and that is an achievement in itself.

last night while england slept along with most of america the mars rover "curiosity" touched down after a harrowing landing and what a spectacular achievement for nasa, the equivalent of landing a car on another planet, really a portable science lab, and we can now see the very first pictures. it's beaming them back from the surface. nbc's miguel almaguer has the story from mission control in pasadena, california. >> touchdown confirmed. [ cheering ] >> reporter: curiosity's smooth but nerve ending picture perfect for nasa. inside california's jet propulsion laboratory, elation and relief. the most high tech rover ever built survived a 13,000-mile-per-hour plunge through mars' thin atmosphere. the heat shield with stood temperatures of 1600 degrees fahrenheit. the space crane worked perfectly. >> we landed in a nice, flat

spot, beautiful. really beautiful. >> reporter: minutes later "curiosity" beamed back pictures from the crater where scientists believe water may have once been. >> every one of those pictures is the most beautiful picture i have ever seen. >> reporter: then came the first images of the landing, an orbiting spacecraft captured "curiosity" dangling from its supersonic parachute. the descent watched around the world -- in times square and in los angeles parents brought children to full house watch parties. >> this is huge. this is huge for science. >> reporter: the jcl director compared the nasa team to olympic athletes. >> this team came back with the gold. >> the goal, to give us a better understanding of the red planet. >> it has a whole suite of images. she'll take images, drill into rocks, scoop dirt. >> reporter: with its six wheels firmly planted the one-time car

size "curiosity" will spend the next two years on mars searching for the building blocks of life -- water, energy, and carbon. in the days and weeks ahead, more images including video of mars will be beamed back to earth. "curiosity" hoping to satisfy just that. our curiosity about the planet eight months and 352 million miles away. miguel almaguer, nbc news, pasadena, california. >> nice to hear people cheering for nasa again. up next here tonight marking a turning point for america and the world, 67 years ago today.

we're back from london. one more item about that mars rover mission. there is one guy at mission control in pasadena who has developed a following on the web that's nothing short of cultish. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. people are celebrating his hair. people have taken to calling him

mohawk guy on the web. his real name is bobeck fredowski. it is impossible to miss the contrast between his style and the guys in old school mission control in the old days. he says he has a different style for every mission and his co-workers voted on this one. harry truman's grandson was on hand today in hiroshima, japan as they marked the 67th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. it was his grandfather, president truman, of course, who ordered the bomb dropped there and in nagasaki the last time nuclear weapons were unleashed on the world. clifton truman daniels said it was important to witness the consequences of the bomb. we got another glimpse of nelson mandela today. secretary of state clinton paid him a visit at his home in south africa. as a man of 94 president mandela is by all accounts slowing down fairly rapidly now, no longer able to get around on his own,

still accepting occasional visitors, constantly surrounded by family at home. president obama today debuted a refitted and refurbished airforce one. it's the same air frame, same aircraft entirely except it's been modernized. the air force took delivery of this current crop of 747s during the presidency of george w. bush, and they need of course periodic overhauls. the vehicle getting the talk here at the olympics is a mini cooper none of us can fit in. bmw owns mini cooper. they are a big olympic sponsor. they figured what better marketing tool than to use these miniature minis to go collect all the things the athletes throw like shot putts and javelins and discuses. up next, he is an inspiration to millions and tonight he tells us what his mother told him long ago that helped him get here today.

in the men's 400 meters it is a pioneering effort as he acknowledges the roar of the crowd. >> if you've been watching these games then you know one of many terrific moments at the olympic

stadium over the past weekend the huge show of support from the crowd for the south african runner oscar pistorius, the first double amputee to compete in the games, making it all the way to the semifinals of the men's 400 meter race. the whole world has been watching, wondering whether he'd even be here. our friend from nbc sports mary carillo spent some time with oscar pistorius at his home in south africa where he talked about the long journey to get here. >> reporter: oscar pistorius was born with no fibulas in his legs. they didn't work, so doctors removed them. >> i was 18 months old and fit with my first pair of prosthetic legs. in the morning my mom said to my brother he must put on his shoes and i must put on my legs. >> reporter: now 25 years old pistorius grew up in a family that made his different body a normal part of their lives. >> we'd go off to the sea side twice a year and i remember running through the sand and you'd always see these foot prints and i'd leave these like

holes around the beach and it would be quite deep. and i remember saying something to my parents along the lines of, my foot prints are different and they said, no, they're just better. >> reporter: like any south african boy pistorius loved rugby but an injury in high school landed him on the track. his coach just treated pistorius like everyone else. >> he trained with my guys, my able bodied university guys. he never knew disabled sports. >> at 17 he began competing on an international level in both para and able body meets. his impressive performances drew critics. they complained his carbon running legs called cheetahs were giving him an unfair advantage. >> most people look at that cheetah blade and think oh, that must make him move like a kangaroo. >> the body is filled with springs that are just as good. they're called ligaments. they're called tendons. and in addition the body has

muscles that can do far greater things than just a spring. it's not the technology. it's what's attached that is pistorius. >> oscar is not broken. >> he's not broken. he's perfect. >> reporter: for running, there is perhaps no more important muscle than the heart. though pistorius may look different than the ideal sprinter he is at his core the embodiment of the olympic creed. this weekend in the most visible sporting event in the world oscar pistorius took part, an accomplishment generations in the making, an inspiration for millions. >> you can't just think that disability is something that's negative and even for those people living with disabilities we can't give them that escape to say you're disabled. put you in a corner. okay cool. you're disabled. get along with life. >> reporter: mary carillo for nbc news, pretoria, south africa. that's our broadcast on a monday night. thank you for being here with us.

primetime olympic coverage tonight starting at 8:00 eastern, 7:00 central. i'm brian williams reporting from our temporary home here at the tower of london. we hope to see you right back here again tomorrow evening. good night. green good evening, everyone. we have more on that breaking news out of pleasanton. police have confirmed they have found the vehicle belonging to a kidnapping suspect. here is a live picture from our nbc chopper over the scene. as you can see police surrounding this silver gmc yukon. it has been located in a parking lot of the stone ridge mall in pleasanton. police as you saw have surrounded this car.

it belonged to 37-year-old jonathan martinez. he's accused of kidnapping his 1-year-old daughter from a home in lathop, that's northeast of tracey. he was last seen in a white shirt and his daughter was last seen in yellow and green polka dot pajamas. again, police have found his car, no word on the whereabouts of martinez or his baby daughter. we have not gotten any updates about their location. our nbc chopper will be over the scene werks have a reporter on the scene and we will keep you posted if there are any updates. while it is a turf war in the city of san jose, literally, neighbors outraged vow to protect their park from getting modernized with artificial turf. the question is in mise park, a private role in the renovations,

that's part of what neighbors are so fired up over. here's the story you'll see only on nbc bay area. >> reporter: the city says the park has a green light but -- >> roughly 33 years. >> reporter: that's how long harry has had john mise park as his second backyard. >> i'm just a couple of hourses away from the park. >> reporter: and besides a playground and new generations of neighborhood kids, harry says not much as changed here in three decades. >> it's what you knee rigsee ri when we moved in. >> reporter: and change is in sight. the city council has voted to turn this flat grass space of john mise park into a fenced in artificial